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What's the future of the U.S. military? Apparently space. Take a look at our favorite jokes, then vote for yours at usatoday.com/opinion. Eileen Rivers, USA TODAY Opinion

Alec Baldwin, left, as President Donald Trump and Beck Bennett as Vice President Mike Pence in a scene from "Saturday Night Live."(Photo: Will Heath/NBC)

WASHINGTON You might have laughed at a satirical headline in The Onion about Vice President Mike Pence asking a waiter to remove a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup from the table until his wife arrives.

Or you could have seen the "Saturday Night Live"Christmas skit in which the stiff-armed, buttoned-down vice president says he doesnt like Deck the Halls, because the carol mentions gay apparel, which Im pretty sure is a mesh tank top.

Or you could have heard Stephen Colberts recent riff on Pences political strategy of being so boring people forget you exist.

He is a manila envelope taped to a beige wall, Colbert said. He could go back to his old job. I think it was off-white paint swatch. Sun-faded department store mannequin. Ghost of a plain yogurt.

Jokes about Pence, and impersonations of him on shows like "SNL,"have consistent themes.

Of the 80 jokes targeting Pence on the late-night talk shows in 2017, most were about his alleged dull personality, prudishnessand homophobia, according to a database compiled by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University.

He is really portrayed as a Christian fundamentalist, very homophobic, the whitest person in politics, said Edo Steinberg, a doctoral candidate at Indiana Universitys Media School who studies political satire. Hes a very sinister character.

The effect of political humor on a politicians reputation varies, according to experts. But its more likely to have an impact on the image of someone like Pence, who did not have a national profile before becoming vice president, than on President Donald Trump.

Trump jokes will not be changing anybodys opinion about Trump, said Jody Baumgartner, a political scientist at East Carolina University who has written about political humor. Everybody already has an opinion about Trump.

And Trump is such a target for comedians, that Pence and others in his orbit often get less attention.Jokes about Pence have made up a slightly smaller share of George Mason Universitys database of jokes about politicians than those of other recent vice presidents.

"Trump isn't just the elephant in the room. He's the whole room," said Robert Lichter, communications professor at George Mason University and director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. Pence has embraced the traditional role of vice president:Dont call attention to yourself."

That backfired, however, when Pence sat silently in the Oval Office as Trump sparred this monthwith House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over funding a border wall and preventing a government shutdown.

After people made jokes on the internet all day comparing Pence to an "elf on the shelf" and "the worst member of this improv team," late-night hosts Colbert, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah and Jimmy Kimmel all joined in the fun.

I guess when Schumer said shutdown, Pence took him literally, Meyers joked.

Some jokes about Pence have gotten noticed for being controversial.

After former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newmansaid in Februarythat Pence thinks Jesus tells him to say things, comedian Joy Behar quipped that he is mentally ill.

"Its one thing to talk to Jesus. Its another thing when Jesus talks to you," Behar said on The View in February."That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct. Hearing voices."

Behar later apologized, saying: I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith, and I fell short of that.

Late-night comics tend to focus on politicians personalities in making jokes. And the religiosity of Pence who introduces himself as aChristian, a conservative and a Republican in that order is one of the things many people tend to know about him. (Another is that he follows a practice common among some evangelicals to avoid beingalone with a woman other than his wife.)

But other occupants of the White House have been openly religious without that becoming significant fodder for satire.

George W. Bush, for example, he was also a Christian president, but he had other traits that people knew about that they could joke about, Steinberg said.

Also, former Vice President Joe Biden, like Pence, doesnt drink alcohol. But while "SNLs" Mike Pence worries that hes slurring his speech after imbibing ginger ale, The Onion dubbed Biden Diamond Joe and celebrated his wild-ass magic carpet ride.

Chad Nackers, the satirical publications editor-in-chief, said the Biden character who tearfully took down a black-light poster of a topless Barbarian chick from his office wall in one article and washed a Trans Am, shirtless, in the White House driveway in another went against Bidens nature, which was serious, despite his Cheshire cat grin.

But I feel like, during this time when the truth has lost some of its meaning, to be authentic, you cant treat Pence like hes off womanizing, Nackers said. Instead, we have to play into what he does to stop himself from doing those types of things.

Hence the Mrs. Butterworth's headline. Or this one: Pence Passing Time During Trumps Speech By Mentally Baptizing Senators.

But when The Onion reported that Trump accidentally fired off a Boring Mike Pence tweet during the vice presidents speech, that joke apparently hit too close to home.

"People thought that was real for some reason,"Nackers said. People were like, 'Why is he attacking Pence?

Pences supporters might also wonder the same thing about late-night comedians. Political humor has become more critical and negative over the last few decades, according to Lichter.

The jokes could be more biting because of who is making them, Baumgartner said.

If you look across the late-night talk show landscape, he said, you can see that we have openly activist, progressive, left-leaning hosts who are dominating the landscape and getting the ratings to show it.

When Pences wife and daughter published "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo," a childrens book that describes the vice presidents job as seen through the eyes of his pet rabbit, John Oliver put out an alternative version that was meant as a criticism of the vice presidents record on gay rights. The parody book rose higher on best-seller lists than the original.

Also, the parody of the Trump administration by "SNL"has gone too far, argues Bill Horner, a politicalscience professor at the University of Missouri who co-authored a book about Saturday Night Live and the 1976 presidential election.

Theyve staked out a much more clearly negative position on this president than theyve done almost through their whole history, he said.

Horner calls "SNL" actor Beck Bennetts portrayal of Pence a pretty good take, with Bennett holding himself stiffly as he gamely tries to reinterpret controversialor falsethings Trump has just said.

Beck Bennett is Vice President Mike Pence and Aidy Bryant is Karen Pence on 'SNL.'(Photo: Will Heath, NBC)

But Horner seesthe jokes on "SNL" and other platforms that paint Pence as being prudish, homophobic and super-religious as revealing an underlying fear from the writers of what would happen if Trump left office and Pence replaced him.

I think the humor seems to really reflect that, Horner said.

Pences own sense of humor is a mystery to many. Despite the fact that Pence has enjoyed doing impressions since childhood so much so that a friends mom thought he might become a comedian he said when running for governor of Indiana in 2012 that one of the biggest misconceptions about him is that he doesnt have a sense of humor.

Hes deadpanned. Which is potentially good. But hes deadpanned stern, not deadpanned funny, said Republican speechwriter Landon Parvin. Rectitude is not good for comedy unless you are making fun of the rectitude, then it's gold. It's like knocking off the hat of the mayor with a snowball.

If he were asked to help make Pence funny, Parvin said he would urge Pence to surprise the people who think they know him.

Show me a little more sinner and a little less saint, Parvin said. I think that would relax his persona some.

There have been glimpses of that.

When Pence was ridiculed on social media over a photo that showed him touching NASA equipment next to a do not touch sign, Pence tweeted: Sorry NASA@MarcoRubio dared me to do it.

Pence has also made self-deprecating remarks about his image. Speaking at the 2017 Gridiron Club dinner, Pence joked that it was good all the major networks were represented because I only have to say the same thing once.

He quipped that the news that he uses an AOL email account would help his image because now America knows Im not stuck in the 50s. Im just stuck in the 90s.

And he gave a nod to the lighthearted tradition of political comedy.

Humor, Pence said, is a great unifier.

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